FORT MYERS, Fla. - On a night that the team honored its seniors, Florida Gulf Coast University's volleyball team delivered an Atlantic Sun Conference Regular Season Championship to the program as the Eagles defeated Queens University of Charlotte 3-0 (25-16, 25-18, 25-19) Saturday night at Alico Arena.
The win, the 15th in a row for the team, is the longest for the Eagles since their historic 2018 season which saw the team win in the first round of the NCAA Tournament for the last win in the streak. The team also matched its best start in ASUN play dating, the third time in program history the team has gone 14-0 to start league play.
"I'm just so proud of this group for being able to secure a championship," said FGCU head coach
Matt Botsford. "That's a lot of work. We've still got a few matches ahead of us, but I want them to take the opportunity to let this soak in because the regular season is a grind."
The Eagles shrugged off early challenges by Queens (4-22, 1-13 ASUN) in the early parts of each set, pulling away in the middle stages without looking back. Twelve different players saw the court for FGCU during the match.
"I thought it was a great night by our middles," said FGCU head coach
Matt Botsford. "You look at the hitting efficiencies by Ella [Chapman] and Juliana [Lentz]. That helped alleviate some of the pressures on the pin hitters and really kind of dictated the way the match unfolded."
Lentz had five kills on 11 swings out of the middle in her final home regular season match, with Chapman adding five on 10 swings. The threat in the middle opened up the court for
Shelby Kent's match-high 15 kills and
Destiny Nelson's career-best seven kills on 14 attacks.
"Destiny was outstanding off the bench in those final two sets, really putting some pressure on their blockers and their defense," said Coach Botsford.
Ultimately, the night was about celebrating the senior class and celebrating a championship.
Alexandra Zakutney filled the box score with eight kills, 14 digs, and four assists.
Lily Tessier added 34 assists as the graduate student played her final regular season match in her hometown. Lentz tacked on four blocks to her five-kill night.
"It's hard to put into words what those three mean to us," said Coach Botsford. "They played a huge role in every match they played for us this season, and obviously Juliana in all four years here. The impact they've had is pretty remarkable to me. I'm just really excited for them and privileged that I had the opportunity to coach them."
The Eagles will wrap up the regular season in the northeast corner of the state next weekend with a trip to Jacksonville. The Eagles will play the University of North Florida on Friday night, followed by Jacksonville University on Saturday.
